How do you handle this in your campaign? What's the historical model? Say a knight dies in battle (or adventuring), what is typically done with the body? Is it carried home to be interred or is it buried at the site of death? I know the answer probably varies by the number of dead, resources available for moving the body, etc., but putting those kinds of logistical concerns, what would a knight expect his fellows to do?

Thanks,


T.

That could be something that a knight specifies in his will; how and where he wants his body disposed of.

In general circumstances I expect that the knight is buried locally (and fairly quickly) with some appropriate rites and a marker of some sort. A notable or famous knight might get a fancier internment with a tomb or chapel being built around it.

Or possibly the body escapes immediate corruption due to holiness or preservation attempts by someone (immersed in honey or spirits perhaps). In that case it may be easier for the body to be claimed and transported elsewhere at a later date for internment closer to home. One could easily build an adventure or quest over the recovery, transport, and (re)internment of the body of an ancestor, former lord, etc. (Saxon sorcerer steals Uther's skeletal head from Stonehenge to cast curses on his descendants; e.g. Arthur.)

How do you handle this in your campaign? What's the historical model? Say a knight dies in battle (or adventuring), what is typically done with the body? Is it carried home to be interred or is it buried at the site of death? I know the answer probably varies by the number of dead, resources available for moving the body, etc., but putting those kinds of logistical concerns, what would a knight expect his fellows to do?

Black Douglas, Scottish badass knight, died in Spain which carrying Robert the Bruce's heart to go on crusade and fight the heathen
they boiled the flesh off his bones, which were brought home and buried
Yow!
Both these seem to have been fairly common: bringing a heart home &/or bones
Although local internment was also common

How do you handle this in your campaign? What's the historical model? Say a knight dies in battle (or adventuring), what is typically done with the body? Is it carried home to be interred or is it buried at the site of death? I know the answer probably varies by the number of dead, resources available for moving the body, etc., but putting those kinds of logistical concerns, what would a knight expect his fellows to do?

Black Douglas, Scottish badass knight, died in Spain which carrying Robert the Bruce's heart to go on crusade and fight the heathen
they boiled the flesh off his bones, which were brought home and buried
Yow!
Both these seem to have been fairly common: bringing a heart home &/or bones
Although local internment was also common



Thanks, Greg! Wow, if that doesn't suggest a few ideas for adventures...


T.

Another standard practice in the middle ages was to bury the entrails where they died, and they transport the body for burial proper.

William Marshal's Son Gilbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, was treated in this way upon his death at the tournament at Ware. Given that Ware is only 23(ish) miles from Temple Church where his body was eventually buried, this might be fairly common practice. (ie you don't have to be far from home for some degree of embalming/preparation to be considered practical)